The hitchhiker
by cucumbersaregreen
Summary: Bruce Banner left after the New York invasion and was set on never returning. He wanted to keep everybody save - he really did. How was he supposed to have foreseen that the tesseract would be stolen from Asgard? He expected many things from his former (or not so former) friends, but not that they would visit only to ask for his help.


**The hitchhiker**

.

_For years, I've put my thumb out. And waited and waited. For someone to pick me up and take me away. Further maybe, but at least away. _

_Nobody ever came. Maybe some day someone will. That keeps me awake, standing at the edge of the road. It keeps me walking. _

_While I struggle with the weight of my bag pack. Every hour. _

_And I stumble along the dark side of the street. No light reaches to this point. _

_Nobody sees me, but still I hope. I hope that they will not be too late. I've fought so long and so hard. I will keep fighting a little bit longer. _

_Just safe me. Please, just safe me. _

.

He watched her suspiciously. His brows were furrowed, his eyes narrow. Something dark had entered them the moment they had caught the red-headed woman standing calmly at the center of the room. She was wearing a black top and equally black pants, just like she'd done the last time she had visited. No gun was strapped to her hip or legs. Banner's gaze flitted over the room, searching for the place she'd put it this time. Anger churned. He smiled softly at her:

"I shouldn't have fallen for the same trick twice, right?" He made a helpless gesture with his hands and then went back to kneading them. A constant struggle to keep his temper raged inside of him.

"We need your help again."

"Of course." He replied quickly. "Why else would you visit."

It took all of his willpower to keep the bitterness out if his voice. It was threatening to overcome him. 'It is an emergency', the little boy had said. A friend had slipped and fallen into the sharp edge of an opened tin can. He let the bag, that he'd so hastily slung over his shoulder at the boy's desperate pleas slip onto the dusty floor.

"The tesseract has been stolen." The woman said, watching his every step as he slowly advanced on her. There was no table for her to sit down at. No place to strap a gun to that would be easily reached. She seemed a bit lost, with her arms crossed before her chest and without any obvious weapon to defend herself. Banner knew better, of course, she had a weapon somewhere, just in case. But even if she hadn't, she herself was a weapon. That was quite enough to make The Other Guy feel on edge.

"I assume we are all by ourselves again, huh?" He stopped a few feet away from her, careful to keep out of her range. Not only to calm himself, but also her. She had grown tenser the closer he stepped. Banner blinked at her, trying act as harmless as possible. She had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. Banner sighed. Even that facial expression was probably not entirely genuine. He was standing in front of a spy, after all, a trained assassin. Romanoff nodded.

"This time for real."

His smile didn't waver. "Do you really expect me to believe that, Agent Romanoff?"

The agent's arms moved to her sides and she took a step back. Banner closed his eyes for a second. He hadn't intended for that to come out as sharp as it did.

"We are." She raised her chin and glared at him. "We are alone." She tapped one forefinger to her ear and titled her head slightly, to let him see the inside of it.

"Nobody is listening in on us." Banner couldn't keep the surprise from showing on his face. Then he frowned and his fingers faltered.

"And the other ear?" Hadn't he known better he would have thought it was genuine hurt that crossed her features. But he did know better. Romanoff moved her head to the other side to show her second empty ear.

"See?" she asked, frowning. "I've come alone this time." Banner laughed softly and looked down at his fiddling hands.

"Sorry", he was totally calm. "I guess I am getting a bit paranoid." He glanced up at her and added: "Right?" She just stared at him mutely. Then abruptly Banner stood a little bit straighter.

"So", he sighed deeply. "You want me to find it again?"

Romanoff nodded. "Yes, but this time we aren't even sure that it is on the planet." She hesitated. "We are actually quite sure that it isn't."

Banner raised both eyebrows. "And how am I supposed to help you then?" He let his smile dim a bit. "When I left I told you that I would not be coming back, Agent Romanoff."

The agent stepped closer to the man. "You will not hurt anyone. I am sure."

He took a step back and shook his head very slowly. "Then you posses a confidence I don't. It is better this way. I have nothing to be angry about here. Nothing to bother me."

The woman looked at him silently. When she finally spoke she combed her fingers through her hair, looking at something behind his right shoulders: "I still don't understand why you left. Stark gave you a laboratory. You are a hero. The people love you."

Banner chuckled mirthlessly. "Yes, and the first time The Other Guy breaks to the surface again, they'll be the first one's screaming for me to be locked in. No", he shook his head decidedly. "No", he repeated, speaking more to himself than his opposite. "It is better this way." He glanced up at her again.

For a few long seconds nobody talked. A strong wind blew around the hut. It was late afternoon and darkness was slowly descending. The weak wooden structure moaned around them as another gust of wind shook the walls. Banner crossed his arms before his chest.

"On what planet is it then?"

"We assume that it is somewhere on Asgard."

His eyebrows shot up again. "And you don't think Thor could be more help in that case?"

The agent crossed her arms. "Fury is convinced that he needs all of us again."

"All of us?" Banner's smile widened and he shook his head. "You want to reassemble the Avengers? I don't think that is wise. At least for me to join them." He took in the agents sceptically glance and added: "It takes only one little crack in my control, one second. The Other Guy could smash you and Barton to smithereens. Even Stark and Rogers could die if He only punched hard enough. He cannot be controlled."

Romanoff gave him one of her rare smiles. "We do not want to control him. It worked out well in New York. We just-" "Yes, it did", he interrupted her. "But only because I did not loose control while being angry at one of you." He smiled softly and threw her an apologetic glance. "Well, not that time, anyways."

She stared at him for a moment and then suddenly seemed to decide on something. She walked past him, over to his bag and picked it up. "It wasn't Loki that took it this time. Thor came and told us that he's still safely tucked away in Asgard's deepest dungeon and that he was quite surprised when they questioned him."

"Well, isn't that great?" Banner asked.

"No it is not. Loki was predictable, we knew that it was him. Thor has known him since their childhood. We wouldn't need the Avengers in that case. The Asgardians could handle it alone, they would probably insist on it. But this", she breathed in deeply. "This is a surprise. Even S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't know what to do."

Banner stared at her for a second, then cocked his head.

"If the tesseract is on Asgard, like you assume it is. Why _can't_ the Asgardians handle it alone and why would S.H.I.E.L.D. even bother? The tesseract is not ours. Isn't it their business?"

Romanoff rubbed her forehead with her free hand. "During the last few weeks people have shown up all around the world. They started riots, gave anti-American, well, actually anti-Western speeches. A few of them were caught for investigation. They showed the same symptoms Clint did when Loki controlled him. Thor told us that that kind of mind-control is only possible if one is in possession of the tesseract."

She reached out and pressed his bag into Banner's arms. He looked down upon it. "You expect me to go back to New York?" She nodded. "Yes, and work together with Stark on finding the cube."

He sighed deeply, smiled and threw her one last glance. "I guess, I should grab some things then, right?"

.

"If that isn't my favorite science buddy!" Stark exclaimed as he approached Banner in the Stark Tower's foyer. He'd been transported over from India to the new S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters by helicopter and greeted by Fury. If you could call being-glared-at-hatefully a greeting. After an hour of talking, which hadn't made him any smarter, he'd been stuffed into some car. He'd fallen asleep after some time and the driver had to shake him to get him to wake up when they'd finally reached New York. The poor man had been sweating like hell, probably expecting him to Hulk-out as Stark so charmingly put it.

"The 49th floor is just as you left it!" Banner looked at him skeptically.

"Smashed into pieces?" Stark just rolled his eyes.

"Of course not. I even put some new instruments in it." The man was still as enthusiastic as a five year old with his toy blocks. Banner took some time to scrutinize him, something was decidedly wrong. Stark caught his stare, grinned even wider and tapped his chest.

"Had it finally taken out." Banner smiled and extended his hand.

"Congratulations, Mr. Stark." The other man shook it. "Must be great to be free."

"Oh, yes. Oh, yes." Stark said somewhat absentmindedly, turned around and gestured towards the elevator. "Let's go upstairs. The others are already waiting."

.

**Should I continue this, or leave it as it is? I don't know. What do you think? Do you love it or is it absolutely horrible?**

**Please give me feedback. Reviews are my life and that's actually quite sad ...**


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